present perfect progressive for a negative sentence
I haven't played the piano for ages means that the last time I played the piano was ages ago.
Will it be possible to write that
I haven't been playing the piano for ages
What would that mean?
Before I stop playing it, I used to play very often.
and that
I have not been sleeping for 5 days.
Would that mean that I have not slept well for 5 days but before this I used to sleep very well.
I haven't been hanging about all day, I have helped my brother.
Does that mean that most of the day I helped my brother and could not hang about a lot.
Top Answer/Comment:
If a native (American-English) speaker wished to say that the last time he played piano was very long ago, he would say:
I haven't played the piano in ages.
Haven't been playing is a very, very unlikely choice of tenses when an AmE speaker wishes to convey that meaning. The continuous/progressive just doesn't work there for that meaning.
Consider:
I haven't been speaking to her for ages.
An American speaker would understand that sentence to mean "I have been giving her the cold shoulder for a long time now. I am angry at her and holding a grudge." Whereas
"I haven't spoken to her for ages."
means "It has been a long time since she and I have conversed."
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